Brian Dennert here

Team Huber told me they are going to have a series of small dollar events in order to bring their message to new people. Here is their invite to an upcoming event:

Many Simi Valley residents will recognize Dr. Austel as he has taken good care of multitudes of Simi Valley citizens. He was my Doctor when I was really young.

I wonder if any of the candidates will be able to earn the endorsement of actor Mickey Jones. You might remember Mickey Jones from the show Home Improvement but in addition to that role he has also made commercials for a few businesses in Simi Valley. I often mention him as potential candidate because he would be a formidable challenger. He has high name ID, a unique story, and wouldn't come across as a professional politician. Bob Huber and Steve Sojka should try to earn his support.

I don't have a budget to pay for fundraisers but I do attend when campaigns invite me to cover the event as a blogger. I am attending Steve Sojka's event this weekend to take pictures and do some interviews. I am open to doing the same for other candidates.

The ventura County Democratic Central Committee has elected a new group of leaders:

Chair - Richard Carter
First Vice Chair - David Atkins
Second Vice Chair - Sandy Emberland
Secretary - Marie Lakin
Treasurer - Pete Brinkman

I will be interviewing the new Chair Richard Carter soon. Please post any questions you want me to ask him.

The VCDCC has seen much instability and infighting over the last few years. Barack Obama won Ventura County but their continued successes depend on their ability to work together. I don't recall the leadership including so many people from East Ventura County before. That might be an indicator that they intend to compete more across Ventura County.

On Thursday Nights I interview candidates, activists, and other people interesting to Ventura County politics. Positions like Harbor Commissioner might not be glamorous or set off debates between Tea Party members and Democrats but they are worth our time. Send me an email if you would like to be interviewed.

Tonight at 8PM I am going to be interviewing Mary Anne Rooney. Check out her website and then read my questions and her answers by clicking on continue reading.

Al Adam is running for a seat on the Thousand Oaks City Council and he is pushing for an initiative to create term limits for that council. Tonight I am going to be interviewing him about his term limits initiative. After 7PM click on continue reading to see my questions and his answers.

Here is a recent Ventura County Star article on the topic. You can learn more at the campaign's website too.

Team Huber has released another campaign video with endorsements from many prominent local politicians. The video has high production quality and I like the content more than the other. I don't recognize all of the speakers though and it would be better if text was added to identify the people in the video.

The video states that Huber has no other agenda except getting elected mayor of Simi Valley. Rep. Gallegly said that is why he is supporting Huber. I don't know what agenda they are alluding to that Steve Sojka might have but I don't mind people that are ambitious. For Sojka to move up to another position, if that is truly his agenda, he would have to serve the people of Simi Valley well. That doesn't bother me.

In the video Rep. Elton Gallegly said:

The main reason I am supporting Bob is that Bob has no other agenda then this city.

Exactly what agenda does Team Huber think Steve Sojka has except this city?

After being attacked by Rep. Elton Gallegly, Sojka won't be able to credibly endorse Elton Gallegly again. An endorsement of Gallegly is an endorsement of his judgment. And Gallegly implied that Sojka has an agenda besides serving the people of Simi Valley. Sojka is not listed among Gallegly's supporters but fellow council members and Sojka supporters Paul Miller, Michelle Foster, and Barbra Williamson are on the list. Also noticeably absent from the list is Glen Becerra. Gallegly is on record implying those three council members that trust him enough to endorse him are supporting a candidate that has an agenda beyond serving the people of Simi Valley.

As you may have seen Rep. Gallegly has been in the news for speaking at tea party events and is considering joining Rep. Michelle Bachmann's tea party caucus in the House. Somehow he doesn't see the value of holding townhall events but he has time to campaign for a candidate for mayor and at tea party events.

This race for mayor is going to divide coalitions that most often support each other. There is plenty of opportunity for challengers for other positions to take advantage of the chaos. Elton Gallegly is a polarizing figure. His involvement gives Sojka a chance to reach out to Democratic activists to convince them they can defeat Gallegly by proxy. I haven't seen enough evidence that Team Sojka intends to do this yet but it could be highly effective. They could easily hold a meet and greet for Democratic activists here in Simi Valley. I bet new VCDCC Chair Richard Carter would help organize the whole thing if someone asked him.

Overall this video is much better but I'd like to see names so that more than political insiders can see the many politicians endorsing Bob Huber.

Steve Sojka supporter Don Norris has created a new video to support Sojka's campaign for mayor. Don, who asked me to refer to him as Don "Fluffy" Norris coming in at 6'3" 270lbs is an energetic supporter who would like your feedback for future videos. Don is a proud progressive and future campaigns would be well served by recruiting him to volunteer. I will allow Don to explain in the comments sections the many reasons he is supporting Steve Sojka.

Steve Sojka is having a Casino Night themed fundraiser. Here is part of the flyer for the event:

Click on continue reading for the rest of the flyer. I am sure Don will make a great video of the night. Any suggestions for the soundtrack? I'd like to stop Don from using country music in the video. There is a Beatles Tribute Band playing if that helps you think of a song for Don's Casino Night Video.

Steve, if you comp me a ticket I will come to document the event for my blog including video interviews with some of your supporters. If there is any gambling I'll pay for my own chips.

The Ventura County Office of Education is a mysterious entity to many voters. The County Office doesn't focus on supervising local school districts but instead helps to run programs that multiple districts use. There is an elected board but unlike other local school districts there is a directly elected Superintendent. Their program areas include some teacher training, running Gateway schools, working on charter school issues, managing internet connections, some special education programs and a few other programs. To many observers a position on a local school board is much more influential.

I teach in Ventura County and in that role I have very little direct experience with the county office.

Examine their website to learn more about what they do. In the past Governor Schwarzenegger proposed eliminating County offices of education to streamline the education bureaucracy.

Rachel Ulrich is running to replace Mary Louise Peterson ( Who often goes by ML ), who isn't running for re-election to the Board. Judging by her biography, campaign team, and list of people endorsing her I expect she won't draw a tough challenger.

I have requested to interview her on an upcoming Thursday night. I will ask her questions on charter schools, the proposals to eliminate the position she is running for, her qualifications and more.

The Ventura County Democrats have opened an office to help organize for the 2010 General Election. They are requesting cash donations so they can pay for the following:

1. Phones and phone service for the call bank. 2. Computer parts (hard drives and memory) to fix up the donated computers. 3. Copy machine and printer supplies - copy paper, toner cartridges, repair contract. 4. Internet wireless router - so anyone working in the office can have Internet access. 5. Security system and cameras. 6. Locking file and storage cabinets. 7. Refrigerator, coffee, water, and snacks for our volunteers. 8. Huge sign that can be easily read from the 101 freeway. 9. Keep the office after November 2010.

They are also open to donations of any of the above materials.

Click on continue reading for their email and click here for their website.

There is a protest outside Rep. Elton Gallegly's office today. Send me any photographs you want posted.

Bob Huber is running for Simi Valley Mayor and is looking for ways to show differences between the candidates based on policy. In his latest press release he supports using E-Verify to ensure the city government, companies that do business with the city, and companies with a Simi Valley business license only use workers that have legal authorization to work.

I like to include the full press releases from candidates so that my readers can see their statements in full context. Click on continue reading to see his press release.

In other Bob Huber news protesters are outside his law office again. Bob Huber has addressed this issue before when he explained it is from a labor union that has a disagreement with him related to business dealing with the Ventura County Community College District.

Steven Hintz sent me this picture from the Santa Paula Independence Day Parade. He has been bringing that dog with him all over the campaign trail. I'd like to see a picture of his dog with other politicians. Steven, I will post every picture that you send me with your dog and other candidates. Maybe when someone endorses you they take a picture with your official campaign critter?

His campaign has continued to gather support with his latest endorsement being the union that represents Ventura County Sheriffs. Besides being able to claim support from law enforcement support from the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs' Association often comes with a large campaign contribution, sometimes as a donation and sometimes as an Independent Expenditure (IE).

Getting the support of a large labor union does carry risks. With concerns by many that pension costs are unsustainable and that public employee unions are too influential in public debates this gives his opponent a line of attack. But for that to work his opponent would need to be running an aggressive campaign and could antagonize law enforcement supports. I am not sure what is happening with the other campaign but Steven Hintz has been dominant publically since the primary.

Candidate for Simi Valley Mayor Steve Sojka put his signs up first across town and now it has become a campaign issue. Mike Chandler's blog post and the article in The Acorn are comprehensive enough that I don't have much to add.

The article in The Acorn had this observation from candidates Mike Judge and Michelle Foster:

Though Judge said the law favors incumbents, who have strong ties with local developers, business and property owners, Foster said she believes the ordinance still creates a level playing field.

"Everyone has the opportunity to receive permission from someone to put a sign on their property," she said, adding, "Just because you are currently an office holder doesn't mean people say yes to you. It's their way of validating whether you are doing a good job in the community or not."

A property owner that wants to develop their property would be wise to curry favor with the people in charge of making a decision on what they can do with their land. The same goes for commercial property owners who often need to work with the city on a variety of issues. A sitting council member has an advantage when asking a property owner to allow their sign to be posted. Remember that next time you see a property with a campaign sign in front of it.

That said Steve Sojka has been effective at placing his signs beyond simply being an incumbent. As a local business owner he has worked closely with many people either through nonprofit work like the Police Foundation or as customers of his advertising business. He has developed many personal relationships that have been helping him as he campaigns.

Mike Chandler, over at Votesimivalley.com, has created a Facebook page dedicated to the 2010 Simi Valley elections. Click like on it below to see his posts in your Facebook feed.

Mike Chandler also posted Bob Huber's response to the start of the campaign signs going up on his blog. Huber contends that he chose not to post them out of respect for voters. read more about his response here.

I post unscientific polls for a variety of reasons including to gauge the intensity of support for a candidate. In the election for Clerk-Recorder my poll wasn't widely off from the official election results:

Here is my analysis of why Mark Lunn won:

1. Low Voter Turn Out Among Democratic Voters.

Republicans had two statewide primaries of consequence, the gubernatorial primary and the senate primary. Democrats didn't have tough choices to make nor could they go out to defeat major Republican candidates. Barack Obama won Ventura County but those same voters didn't have as many reasons to show up to support Jerry Brown when he was the only candidate running or to vote in races like Clerk / Recorder.

2. He ran a great campaign.

He was able to get early endorsements from people like former Ventura County Democratic Central Committee Chair Hank Lacayo and other impressive figures. He didn't identify Lacayo as a Democrat on all of his materials but his name does appeal to some people. Mark Lunn was able to attract support from a Democratic Chair and from Tea Party activists that think Barack Obama was born in another country. That is impressive for a candidate running for a nonpartisan seat. I wonder if they asked him if he will be checking birth certificates?

3. Name ID.

Mark Lunn had many more signs across Simi Valley than Jim Dantona did. Signs don't win many elections but in a contest with so little interest from average voters they can be very effective. I wouldn't advise candidates to rely upon them at the expense of other more important tools but they do help.

4. He had a better ballot designation.

Running for a position that many voters cannot properly identify the responsibilities forcs a candidate to either spend money and time explaining the position or as Mark Lunn did effectively work on building trust. His ballot designation lets voters know many people trust him.

5. A weak Ventura County Democratic Central Committee.

The VCDCC didn't draft a candidate early nor did they all rally around Jim Dantona as their candidate. For those committee members that did rally around him they didn't have the same financial resources or organization that the Ventura County Republican Party is able to use to help their candidates. The VCRCC might rely upon toxic interest groups like tobacco companies but they have money to support their candidates.

6. The backgrounds of the candidates.

What I like about Jim Dantona is he is willing to work hard when everything isn't given to him. Other candidates only run for safe positions but Jim Dantona ran against an incumbent supervisor and a powerfully connected Chief of Staff to a supervisor. That said he does have weaknesses that make it harder for him to get his message out. Although he has explained factors that contributed to his bankruptcies they obviously cost him more votes than he gains back from his explanations. And those explanations require resources from the campaign.

7. An early start.

Mark Lunn started his campaign earlier. That allowed him to build up a strong list of people endorsing him before Team Dantona could either ask the same people to endorse him or at least stay neutral. That's a tip for a novice candidate. If you can't get someone to endorse you then you can ask them to stay neutral. It flatters people to think they are so important they could tip an election and it is sometimes less risky than endorsing a candidate.

Both candidates ran strong campaigns and I appreciate them putting their name on the line for us to have a choice. I don't like to vote for a candidate when there is only one choice. I almost always skip voting or write-in a different candidate. I am thankful Jim Dantona gave us a choice.

What are your explanations for the outcome of this election? Which of my observations do you agree with?

For months I have been questioning why Mark Lunn didn't include increasing voter registration and participation in his platform but I am glad to see this in a recent article:

Turnout in Tuesday's primary election was about 27 percent, something he wants to see improved. "I will continue to work to do my best to get people to come to the polls," he said.

Click on continue reading for Mark Lunn's thank you to his supporters.